The North Tower Girls
by Tallulah Grammar Songstress
Summary: [Malory Towers] AU-with-superpowers retelling of canon. Five girls, each with a very different talent, team up to protect each other. But what if their most dangerous enemies come from inside?
1. Chapter 1

(A/N: Written for the 12daysChristmas challenge on LiveJournal, prompt "five superheroes". Reviews welcome!)

"So... what is your power, then?" Darrell asked at last.

"Oh." Irene looked round at her, grinned wickedly. "Alicia didn't tell you?"

"Have a heart, Irene," Alicia said from where she was leaning on the back of the sofa. "I may not suffer fools gladly, but I don't reveal other people's secrets without their consent."

Irene laughed. "She'll find out sooner or later - it's hardly a secret, is it? Can I show her?"

"Go ahead."

Irene scrambled off the sofa and hurried out of the room. When she came back, she was clutching a canvas bag which, when she set it down, Darrell could see was lined with neatly folded skeins of wool, each one carefully sealed with a strip of black paper.

"Right," Irene said. "You agree with me that these are all neatly organised? Go on, pick them up if you want. Check for invisible wires -"

"Roll up, roll up, for the greatest show on earth," Alicia put in, laughing.

"Now -" Irene pulled off the gloves she was wearing with a flourish. All the people here wore gloves, Darrell noticed. She thought she could guess why. But even so, Irene's hands were speckled with ink and soot, although they looked very pale against the surface of the bag. She rested her palms on it for a few seconds, then let go and handed the bag to Darrell.

"Go on, look," she said.

Darrell did so, and gasped. All the skeins of wool had come unbound, and were trailing around each other, knotted together, different colours run together like spilt ink.

"How did you..."

"Our dear Irene's power," Alicia said, "is to cause chaos. She's incapable of wearing shoes that lace because they constantly become untied. She can cause any piece of machinery simply to short-circuit by touching it. And while we haven't investigated this, we suspect that she could cause confusion and disorganisation in people simply by laying a gentle hand on their forehead -"

"But there are some problems in testing that," Irene said, "so we can't prove it."

"It certainly seems to hold true for her, however," Alicia said. "Irene takes simple disorganisation to an art form. She's famous at university for - what was it, Irene? Managing to answer a paper on group theory while everyone else was studying metric spaces?"

"I _felt_ like answering a group theory paper," Irene said. "I thought I must have mixed up my timetable."

"Doesn't it..." Darrell swallowed. "Doesn't it make things difficult for you, though? I mean... obviously you can't actually hurt people, but -"

"I wouldn't go that far," Alicia said. "Travelling in vehicles with her, for instance, is always a bit of a risky undertaking." She glanced at Irene. "Not to mention, it's put a damper on her skills as a pianist. When something goes out of tune every time you touch it -"

"Oh, stop it." Irene scowled suddenly. "Don't talk about that, Alicia."

"Whatever you say," Alicia said, lazily. "But you see, Darrell, Irene was my... protege, I suppose you'd call it."

"I wouldn't," Irene said, grinning again as if nothing had happened. "Lab rat, perhaps."

"She was the first person with an unusual attribute I met," Alicia said. "Up until then, I'd been ignoring the signs in myself. Pretending it was just part of my personality. I'm sure you know that way of thinking."

Darrell bit her lip. In some ways, it was worse that Alicia was saying this, rather than asking _why didn't you notice that things broke or exploded around you every time you got angry?_ Because you _didn't_, that was the thing, you just assumed this was _how things were_ until something so awful happened that you couldn't pretend any more.

"But when I met Irene, I realised what was really going on," Alicia said. "And then I thought, well, why not keep an eye out for others? Plus, it probably helped that her unique skills accidentally caused me to break my leg during a game of lacrosse and my skills meant it had healed after half an hour. It's a bit difficult to pretend when that happens."

Darrell tried not to look too shocked. "You really - you really broke your leg and it - it fixed itself? How do you know it was broken?"

"Because it was like this," Alicia said, making a right-angle shape with the tips of her fingers. "Irene and I watched as it straightened itself out again. It was a very interesting experience, when all's said and done. It certainly cured me of pretending."

"And - and the other two, they don't pretend either?"

"I wouldn't say that," Irene said.

"Mary-Lou's being ridiculous about the whole thing," Alicia said. "She swears blind she doesn't know what I'm talking about, when the main reason she's living here is that her family are too frightened to be near her. She's such a little mouse."

"She's the sort of person who just is mouselike, though, I think," Irene said. "Which makes it ironic, considering what she can do."

"And as for Sally, I have no idea what she thinks she's playing at," Alicia said. "To be quite honest, I think she's one of the most unpleasant people I've ever met."

"She's not that bad," Irene said. "She just doesn't seem to... like people very much. If you want unpleasant, think of Gwendoline Mary." To Darrell, she said, "She's Mary-Lou's best friend. Doesn't have any powers, she just hangs around here because she keeps saying how worried she is about Mary-Lou."

"I think she hangs around here because she wants to know everything about all of us," Alicia said. "She's the sort of person who can't bear anyone except her to have any secrets. Anyway, Darrell - that's us. The North Tower girls, I suppose we would be, although I'm not sure how well we'd do at fighting crime. If you can control that temper of yours, you're welcome to stay."


	2. Chapter 2

The sun was still out, but it was an odd, sour colour, and afterwards Darrell realised she should have spotted the clouds rolling up on the horizon.

They were all in the garden - Alicia lying with her face to the sun; Sally hunched over and silent, picking at the grass; Mary-Lou and Gwen chatting on a rug together; Irene lying on her stomach doing homework. Darrell was sitting with her, watching her chew the end of her pencil - every time she did that, the point snapped, and she had to sharpen it, leaving twists of wood in the grass - and every so often, sketch out a flurry of meaningless symbols.

"I don't understand how you can do nothing but maths," she said. "I think I'd go mad!"

"You only think that because it doesn't make sense to you," Irene said. "If you knew what these all meant, it would be fine."

"Well, don't tell me," Darrell said, laughing. "Life is confusing enough at the moment."

Silence for a second except for Alicia's voice in the distance, "Gwen, I don't actually remember asking you over. Not that I don't love your company, but you could treat Mary-Lou in return once in a while, couldn't you?" Gwen mumbling something Darrell couldn't hear.

Then: "Maths isn't confusing," Irene said. "It's the only thing that isn't." She smiled, ruefully. "It just stays as it is. Alicia always said she thought if my powers managed to ruin that, then I could probably unknit the world, so it's jolly good that - oh, bother!" A raindrop had splashed down onto the page, blurring the Greek letters. "This was actually looking neat, too -"

Darrell helped her collect up the papers. Sally was already slouching towards the patio door; she grudgingly held it open until Alicia reached it, then stalked away into the house. Darrell dashed inside and was busy enough helping Irene to put her work back in order that she didn't notice at first what Gwen was doing. When she looked up, she couldn't work it out at first. Gwen was inside, with the rest of them, holding the patio door closed, but Mary-Lou, clutching the blanket, was still outside, struggling with it, the rain spotting her clothes.

"Help her, idiot," Alicia was saying to Gwen. "Don't just stand there -"

There was a sudden boom of thunder and at the same time, the sky flared dull white with lightning. Mary-Lou screamed, and, dropping the rug, wrenched at the door, shaking at the handle. But Gwen was smiling and - and she was holding it shut.

They'd all looked round when Mary-Lou screamed, and Alicia, rolling her eyes, was saying, "Look, you know she's scared of everything, don't you think -" and Sally and Irene weren't saying anything and Mary-Lou was pounding on the glass now, eyes wide and terrified.

"Let her in, why don't you?" Darrell heard herself yell. "She's really scared!"

"I'm just joking," Gwen said, snorting. "Don't be so serious all the time, Darrell."

She was still smiling.

That was what did it.

"_Stop it_!" she yelled, and she knew the power was about to burst out but that was all right, that was _good_, she was helping like someone in a comic, and Gwen just rolled her eyes and Darrell felt the power wrench itself free and hurl itself forward, slamming Gwen off her feet. The door flew open, and Mary-Lou dashed inside, sobbing. Rain spattered after her. Irene was already hurrying over, putting an arm round her, but Alicia had marched over to Darrell, grabbed her by the shoulder.

"_You_ stop it," she said.

"I... but she..."

"Look. Go on."

Darrell stared and stared at the dining table, half-slumped where the legs had been wrenched off; the dent in the wall like a two-foot spider's web; the shattered table lamp sent flying to the floor. Gwen was curled up, trembling.

"I... I didn't..."

"Yes, you did," Alicia said. "If you ask me, it's a jolly sight lucky you didn't do worse. You can't just destroy chunks of the house when you don't get your way, you know."

Darrell nearly carried on shouting, lashing out, breaking things down. Once she was pretty sure that she would have done. But now she was going to be better, wasn't she? Hadn't she always said? Just because she _could_ hurt someone badly didn't mean that anyone had to be scared...

She swallowed hard, trying to keep the tears out of her voice. "I... you're right, Alicia. I'm sorry, it... it was stupid of me. I'll tidy it up - pay for repairs... Gwen, are you all right?"

Gwen got to her feet, shaking flecks of broken china out of her hair. She looked over at Darrell, and she looked furious.

"I'm fine," she said. "No thanks to _you_."

"Well, perhaps if you hadn't tried to scare Mary-Lou silly, the whole thing wouldn't have happened," Alicia said, sounding a little calmer. "Honestly, Gwen, what were you thinking?"

Gwen sniffed, rubbed at her arm. "It was only a _joke_. She could have killed me."

Alicia was saying something sharp back, but Darrell suddenly didn't want to listen any more. She _had_ nearly killed someone, and suddenly she couldn't bear to look any of these people in the eye. Shaking, she hurried towards the door, when she felt a damp hand clutch at her arm.

"Thank you," Mary-Lou whispered, under cover of the argument brewing behind them. "It... I was so scared." 


	3. Chapter 3

Sally knew Darrell was outside the door -

[stupid to stand here being such a coward] [she's so cold I don't] [Mary-Lou needs help and I]

- and so she called out, "Come in," because she was too tired and cold to start off with _go away_. Sometimes she still remembered what it was like being polite to people.

An unnerved pause - [how did she] [oh, of course] [just get on with it!] - and then the door opened and Darrell peered nervously round it. "Sally? I wanted to talk to you... are you busy?" [so dark in here] [does she ever do anything?]

"I don't do much," she said, and Darrell's eyes widened. Sally could remember feeling triumphant about that sort of thing, once (when they called her _plain_ and _boring_ in their heads and she was able to say _maybe, but at least I'm not worried about being left back a year_ and they'd yell at her, _how did you know_ -)

But now she didn't feel triumphant, she just felt tired.

"What do you want?" she said. The window was slightly open and the white curtain was billowing.

Darrell swallowed, and as she spoke her thoughts echoed the words so Sally knew that she wasn't lying. "I'm worried about Mary-Lou. What - what Gwendoline did to her was really horrible, and she was really scared, but she didn't use her powers at all. I heard Alicia talking to Irene, saying that maybe she's suppressed them somehow, but I don't - I can't believe that would happen. I mean - Alicia said that she thought it was unusual - she wanted to study it further. I just... I don't understand why, if someone's really scared, they wouldn't be able to break through any kind of block. She could have ripped the patio door off if she'd tried."

Sally realised she was becoming interested in the question. She didn't want to be, being interested in things just meant they laughed at you when it went wrong and - and -

She swept her powers into Darrell's mind, looking, looking for the scorn she knew would be there -

[why isn't she answering? She's so strange, I can't work out] [what's wrong with her?]

There.

"I don't know why you'd come to ask me for help," she said.

"Alicia and Irene don't believe there's anything odd going on," Darrell said. "And they both find Mary-Lou a little irritating, don't they? And - and -" [you must know] [you can look in people's heads] [just hiding it from me?]

"And I can help you solve the problem by telling you the answer," Sally said, "and then you can take all the credit and make yourself feel better about nearly killing Gwen."

Darrell went pale. Her eyes were like pools of shadow. [I didn't] [not like] [her too?] [I want to _help_]

"You want to make yourself feel better," Sally repeated.

"No, I don't!" Darrell took a couple of steps forward; the curtain billowed out again. "Mary-Lou's been following me around like a puppy ever since and" [stupid kid] "she needs to learn to stand on her own two feet." [like everyone has to] [I don't deserve] [I don't know what to do!]

This was why Sally didn't let people talk to her, this was why she liked being on her own - how _dare_ Darrell come in here to taunt her that she had no friends, rub it in that she could never be involved in a plan, never form a team? She felt sick and shaky and her own thoughts almost drowned out the hum of Darrell's. "Go away," she stammered out, "go away, do you hear? How dare you come in here and make fun of me?"

"I didn't - this is ridiculous." Darrell's fists were clenched at her sides. "I came here because I wanted your help. You looked angry with Gwen too. I thought you'd understand."

"Get _out_!"

"_Listen_ to me!" Darrell shouted. "Or are you so busy reading thoughts you don't take in what people say?"

(Afterwards, Sally wondered if she'd wanted to trigger something awful, to make the constant noise stop at last, or just to make Darrell miserable. But at the time, she completely forgot that her opponent was dangerous.) She dived forwards, shoved Darrell back towards the door, and then she heard/felt it -

[_**Don't you dare!**_]

The window flew open with a crash and the curtain poured into the room like a ghost and Sally felt the power slam into her, send her flying as if she were in the sea and had been hit by a big wave.

[sorry] [sorry] [is she] [how could I] "Sally, are you all right?"

Sally looked up at her. Darrell's eyes were wide and her hands were shaking a little. She could forgive her.

They could talk.

For goodness sake, hadn't she learnt yet? Furiously, she gritted her teeth, focused on the bruises swelling on her hip and her elbow.

"Go away," she said. "Go away, or I shall tell Alicia you nearly killed me."

[how dare] [no, I] [so sorry!] [wanted to] [wanted to help]

Darrell didn't say anything. At last, she turned and walked away, her thoughts following her like sobbing all down the corridor. Sally stayed sitting on the floor, drew her knees up to her chest. If she could listen to her own thoughts, she knew they would be _I don't care. I don't care_ like sharp regular stitches in a piece of cloth. She didn't care what Darrell Rivers thought of her, and she didn't care about Mary-Lou either. When it came down to it, you couldn't afford to.

ooo

In the end, it was the sadness that did it. She could feel Darrell's thoughts hanging in the air, cold and scared and lonely, every time the two of them were both in the house, never mind in the same room. Normally, she didn't care about other people being miserable. Often they deserved it. But Darrell kept thinking about her powers, about how she'd hurt everyone, about how she couldn't control them and how wicked she was. Sometimes Sally caught flickers of what had happened with her and her family, and then caught herself saying, _I understand, it was bad for me too_ as if Darrell had the same power as her and could listen.

Sally had always clung to the knowledge that she wasn't a coward, whatever else she was, and so at last she sought Darrell out in her turn, told her that things were all right, that she herself was no better. Darrell stared at her, and the relief washed over Sally like hot water.

And sometimes Darrell would come and sit by Sally in the garden, offer food or volunteer to get a rug. Sally tried not to think too hard about this, tried not to notice how warm Darrell's thoughts were. If she thought about it, it might all go wrong. So she thought about Mary-Lou instead; Mary-Lou, and Darrell's questions about her.

"She definitely has powers," she said. "Alicia was positive about it. She's just frightened of them."

"But you can't get rid of them just by being scared." Darrell was sitting on the grass munching an apple, frowning as she ate. "And even if you had, surely being scared about something else would - cancel that out. Wouldn't it? Alicia said she saw Mary-Lou lift up a car with one hand once. She should have been able to open that door."

"Maybe it was panic," Sally said. "Maybe she forgot. Like when you're scared and trying to open the front door and can't get your key in the lock. Something like that." Darrell didn't answer - her thoughts were still puzzling over the same questions - and so Sally carried on: "Either she's scared, or something is actually stopping her powers from working. And before you ask, I can't work it out any more than you can. She's just... always nervous. That's all that's in her head." The problem was intriguing her, and so she carried on, half to herself, "If I were a scientist, I'd put her in a situation where she'd really _want_ to use her powers. That would probably explain it."

Darrell wasn't at the house much for a while after that; she took to going out for walks, sometimes with Mary-Lou, sometimes without. Her thoughts seemed purposeful, expectant, but without digging deeper Sally couldn't work out whether she actually had a plan. And she didn't really want to dig deeper. This - this friendship might get crushed if she did.

Both Darrell and Mary-Lou were out when Irene came crashing into Sally's room, tripping over a sudden fold in the carpet as she did: "Come downstairs - on the television - you have to see this!"

On the little black-and-white screen was a reporter, standing in front of a black, smoking ruin of a building. "... no one has been seriously injured in the blaze, thanks to the actions of plucky local girl Mary-Lou Ireson! Miss Ireson and her friend Darrell Rivers were out walking when they spotted the blaze -" The screen cut to Darrell, smeared with soot and with a blanket wrapped round her shoulders.

"I was very foolish," she was saying, but her eyes were glinting and a smile was doing its best to dance across her face. "I saw the flames and I just ran forward to see if anyone was trapped... I didn't think. Mary-Lou ran after me and got me out just in time."

"Onlookers report seeing your friend lift a burning beam blocking her path and throw it out of the way, despite it being twice as tall as she was. Is there any truth in that amazing story?"

"I didn't really see," Darrell said. "All I know is that Mary-Lou saved my life. She's a real hero."

Mary-Lou arrived home with bandages on her hands and a shy smile on her face.

"I didn't think," she explained, gazing up at them. "I just had to help Darrell. She helped me. And I - I couldn't have done it if I hadn't got my powers."

"I'm glad to hear it," Alicia said. "From now on, you're the person in this house who does all the heavy lifting." Irene gleefully sung a victory chant, and even Gwen smiled at Mary-Lou and then patted Darrell on the shoulder, saying, "I'm glad you're all right."

Sally waited until she and Darrell were alone to say, "That was a very fortunate coincidence, finding a perilous situation just when you wanted Mary-Lou to prove herself."

Darrell glanced at the ground; grinned. "I didn't set fire to anything, if that's what you're thinking." [I just thought in a city this size] [bound to be something dangerous] [just had to]

"You could have been killed."

"I probably could have blasted that beam out of the way," Darrell said, wrinkling her forehead. "I think, anyway. But - I wanted to do something right." [wouldn't matter if I] [Mary-Lou's a good person] [so much to make up for]

"Well," Sally said at last, "I'm glad you're all right."


	4. Chapter 4

The TV was the only light in the room; Mary-Lou sat on the sofa, knees to chest, watching the reporter. It was the same man who'd been at the scene of the fire, but now he looked much sadder.

"... most terrible loss of life this city has seen in years. The exact details of the tragedy are as yet unclear, but witnesses have described seeing parts of the structure seemingly explode or rip apart of their own accord..."

Mary-Lou felt as if there was a fire in her mind, throwing flickering light onto her thoughts; making them look... different. When the news report finished, she switched off the TV and then sat staring at her hands. The burns were healing over now; smooth, puffy, itching a little. Even with them she knew that if she wanted to, she could pick up the solid oak dining table in the next room and balance it on her hand like it was a tray. She knew it and it felt like she'd always known it, so why, a few days ago, had it seemed so unclear?

She thought she might know the answer.

The house was quiet. Darrell was upstairs in her room, probably, where she'd been ever since the news of the tragedy had broken. She'd sworn she had nothing to do with it and Sally had backed her up, _you know I'd be able to tell if she were lying and I promise you, she isn't!_ But Alicia was still suspicious, they could all tell. Irene might be as well. Those two knew a lot more about powers. Maybe they'd heard of powers where you could lie in your thoughts and trick someone like Sally. But Mary-Lou didn't need to know things like that. She knew that Darrell wouldn't hurt anyone.

_All the times she's lost her temper, she's only broken __**things**_, she'd said. _And - and also, to break a whole building like that you'd need to be really angry, or - or stand there and decide to attack it. She wouldn't do that._

But that hadn't been enough. And now Darrell was miserable no matter how hard she tried to pretend to Mary-Lou that she was all right.

And she was Mary-Lou's friend.

In the end, Mary-Lou scrambled to her feet and walked into the kitchen. Gwendoline was already there, rooting through the cupboards. Mary-Lou realised that she was looking through other people's spaces, eating their foods. She'd never noticed this behaviour before, either.

"The news has finished," she said.

"I don't know why you wanted to bother with that. It's so boring." Gwen set a tin of condensed milk down on the table and started searching for a tin opener.

"I wanted to see what they were saying about the Trinity Street thing."

"Are they saying anything new?" Gwen turned to face her, sounding a little more interested.

"Not really."

"It's so terrible," Gwen said, leaning back on the counter. "Darrell must be feeling awful about it."

Mary-Lou took a deep breath. Her palms were very sweaty suddenly, and her stomach ached a little. "That's why you did it, isn't - isn't it? So that she would be sad."

Silence for a second.

"Mary-Lou!" Gwen laughed, a sharp, awkward sound. "What a thing to say!"

"I'm sorry, Gwen, but I think it must have been you. You see, if there had been another person with powers like Darrell's, there probably would have been reports of odd things happening. If - if you look up the newspapers for places where Darrell's lived, you find stories about - about odd accidents, things breaking, local boys blamed for smashing windows... it isn't much, but... And there doesn't seem to be a similar trail for anyone else."

"Well, that just proves that she actually did it, don't you think? I don't see what it has to do with me."

"Well - you -" Mary-Lou swallowed. _It doesn't matter if she laughs or if she's angry, Darrell needs my help -_ "You can take other people's powers, can't you?"

"I don't know what on earth you're talking about."

"I think that... that if you touch someone, you pick up their powers. And then they have to wait for a bit. They have to regrow them, I suppose - like it's hair. That's why, when you shut me out in the rain, I couldn't open the door. You'd been sitting with me, arm in arm with me. You'd just taken my powers. You - you've been my friend for a long time and you've been taking my powers all this time. That's why I managed to - to make myself think they weren't there. I wanted them not to be, and you took them."

"This is ridiculous," Gwen said, her mouth twisting into a scowl. "You don't have any proof of this."

"You took Darrell's powers, and then you went and destroyed those shops."

"If you're just going to keep saying the same thing over and over again -" Gwen snorted. "I think you need to get some rest, Mary-Lou. Besides, if I do have this clever plan, why hasn't Sally worked it out?"

"I don't know." Mary-Lou was feeling a bit better now. Gwen wasn't shouting and being upset. If she'd been innocent, she would have been horrified that anyone could think she'd do such a thing. But she wasn't. She was just talking like she was trying to win a not-very-important argument. "Perhaps you've been taking her powers - just a little, just enough so that she isn't reading your thoughts. Also, she told us that she's been trying to hold back, do you remember? She hasn't been digging as deep. Maybe that's when you got the idea."

"It still doesn't prove anything."

"Yes, but when I tell Alicia, she'll be able to study it scientifically." Mary-Lou tried to look calm and strong like Alicia would. "If you have a power, she'll be able to see it in your DNA. So - so if you haven't done anything wrong, then it won't be a problem her doing that, will it?"

Gwen opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Then she smiled.

"So you haven't told Alicia yet?" she said.

"I wanted to - to ask you first."

"Why?"

"People have - people have been killed, Gwen." Mary-Lou swallowed. "They dug out some more bodies today, they said. I don't - you - you were my friend. I wanted to ask you why you'd done that, just to get back at Darrell. I wanted..." _I wanted to ask why you hurt me. Did you ever care about me? Even a little bit?_ But she didn't say that bit. She probably wasn't quite brave enough to.

Gwen shrugged. "Why not?" she said.

"I - what?"

"Why not? Oh, for goodness sake, Mary-Lou. We're special, aren't we?" Gwen flicked her hair back, irritatedly. "If we've been given special powers, then we have a right to use them. And Alicia and Darrell were so arrogant. Thinking I didn't know anything, I was just some idiot? None of you worked it out."

"I have."

"Of course you have, _now_." Gwen laughed - started walking towards Mary-Lou. "You little idiot! Of course I needed a friend with useful powers so I had an excuse to get close to her. You weren't quite right about Sally, by the way. I think that I don't even have to touch someone to affect them, but only a little bit. Someone like you wouldn't notice it - you'd just be a little weaker - but with Sally, I think my thoughts are murky to her. I think she can't quite make them out." She was still walking closer. Mary-Lou took a step backwards before she could think. "You know how that idiot Irene carries a wave of disorganisation with her? I think I'm like that. Anyway, I knew that you wouldn't work it out."

"But _why do it_?" Mary-Lou wished there was a piece of furniture between them. She could lift Gwen off her feet, but as soon as she did, Gwen would be able to touch her, suck out her powers, and then she'd just be silly little Mary-Lou again, unable to do anything, useless -

"How dare Darrell treat me like that?" Gwen said, and she didn't even look ashamed, or like anyone might disagree with her. "People like that just need a lesson taught to them."

Mary-Lou turned to run just as Gwen dived forward, grabbed at her. Her fingers scraped down Mary-Lou's arm and even just with that contact Mary-Lou felt it, power seeping away from her, and she fell forward, stumbling, hands scrabbling on the floor as she tried to keep her balance. She had to run - she had to find one of the others and tell them -

Just as she reached the door, something hard slammed into her back and sent her flying. She lay still, gasping, trying to catch her breath. Looked round to see the kitchen chair Gwen had flicked at her lying on its side, and Gwen walking towards her, mouth twisted into a pout.

"You're so stupid," she said. "I can't believe you didn't tell anyone else." She'd grabbed Mary-Lou's hair, clutched at the back of her neck. Her fingers were cold. "Oh well, I suppose it won't matter now."

Mary-Lou could feel the rest of her power being torn out of her. It hurt. It hadn't hurt like this before. She'd just always been tired, and yet - and yet she was, her head was heavy, her arms and legs aching as if they were being buried in golden syrup. She was too tired to talk, but she thought, one word in front of the next, _had to... talk to you first... wanted to know..._

and... if I didn't do it now then... too scared...

"See, we've been thinking," Gwen said, from far away, "we've been thinking that if I try hard enough, I could take everything - not just powers, everything -"

It hurt but the hurt was just on the surface of a black pit of nothing opening up inside her and

and

_no_

NO, I WANT TO BE STRONG

She had almost collapsed and so she didn't hear the running footsteps, didn't see Darrell and Sally burst into the kitchen, didn't see Darrell lift Gwen off her feet with a rush of force that shattered the kitchen window and broke every plate in the room. She vaguely registered that someone was putting a coat round her, helping her sit up, but she wasn't awake enough to see Gwen scramble over the kitchen sink and out through the smashed window, or to register that Darrell was crying.

She stayed in bed for four days, sleeping a lot, eating when she woke. When she was finally able to sit up without feeling exhausted, she saw that Alicia was sitting in the room with her, reading a book.

"You look better now," she commented, glancing up from it. "That's good."

"Is... what happened to..."

"Gwendoline got away," Alicia said. "Unfortunately. I knew I never liked that girl. But Sally skimmed your memories of what happened, saw Gwen admitting what she'd done. So your crazy plan worked." She smiled wryly. "I've apologised to Darrell. I suppose my disdain was why you did something so reckless."

"Not... not exactly."

"Don't you watch any films, Mary-Lou? _Never_ confront the baddie without proof or witnesses! You can't always rely on having a telepath in the house to pick up your distress calls."

"I'm sorry."

Alicia shrugged. "Apology accepted. I'm glad you seem all right, though. I would hate to lose one of the North Tower Girls. I've got rather used to having you all around."

ooo

The sky was bright, flat blue - rather like painted tin, Darrell thought. She wrapped her coat more snugly around herself, and took a few more steps towards the front gate of the house. The garden was bare, the earth frozen over, and the trees were bare too. Their shadows fell onto the sunlit walls and Darrell remembered climbing the trees, waving at the house, trying to make her own shadow appear -

She bit her lip and kept walking; the gate creaked as she opened it, and then she was walking up towards the front door. Before she was even halfway there, though, it flew open, and Felicity was stumbling out to meet her, almost slipping on the bare ground in her excitement. "_Darrell_!"

"Be careful!" Darrell called, hurrying over. "You'll slip - Felicity -"

"Oh, don't be such a wet blanket." Felicity was scrambling down the path, her crutch leaving neat semi-circular imprints in the earth. "Where have you been? Why didn't you come and see us earlier? A fine sister you are!"

She was smiling as she said it, seemingly unaware of any truth it might contain, but Darrell had to swallow a few times before she was able to say, "I know. I'm sorry, I just... it was difficult..."

Felicity reached her, and Darrell caught her by the arm, let her lean on her. "Come on, let's get back into the house."

Felicity pulled her arm free. "Stop that, I manage fine without you most of the time. Just because you're the big sister - oh, Darrell, Mother and Daddy will be so excited to see you!"

"I doubt they'll be excited as you seem to be."

Felicity stopped, turned to look at her. "You should have come back to see us before." Her face was serious suddenly.

"I couldn't." Darrell didn't think she could explain to Felicity how it felt being back at home, how she could hear the memories of the screaming and yelling and Felicity sobbing and cold air and _all my fault, all my fault -_

"I wish you didn't still blame yourself," Felicity said softly.

"Why on earth shouldn't I?"

"Because it won't help. They've forgiven you, you know that - they forgave you long ago. And I wasn't cross with you. I was being a little brat, trying to make you angry. Neither of us knew that _that_ was going to happen if I succeeded."

Silence for a few moments. The air was very still.

"I thought I'd lost my sister," Felicity said, squeezing Darrell's arm.

"I thought..." Darrell gulped, squinted at the frosty ground. "I thought you wouldn't want her back."

"Well, that's just silly," Felicity said. "I always wanted her back. Now come on. Let's get inside."

(A/N: Retelling of the second book to follow!)


	5. Chapter 5

Outside it was thundering, but Mary-Lou only jumped a little when it was very loud, rather than cowering and crying as she would have done a year ago. It probably helped you to stop being scared, Darrell thought, when you knew you could lift up a car with your bare hands.

Or perhaps Mary-Lou was just distracted by the supper-time conversation. There were five of them tonight – her and Mary-Lou, Alicia, Sally, and the girl who'd just moved in since Irene had begun living up at the university. Ellen, that was her name: frowning, eating the stew as if she wasn't really tasting it. _Telekinesis_, Alicia had said. _Very limited, but she's still an excellent research assistant. Terribly hard-working._ There had been an unspoken suggestion that _hard-working_ meant _dull_, but then, Alicia found a lot of people dull.

"No, please do tell us how it went," she was saying now. "I'm genuinely interested." And to Ellen: "Sally's done terribly well – she's just become town council representative for people with... special abilities. It's quite amazing, really."

Darrell saw Sally's eyes narrow a little. You didn't have to be a telepath to spot that Alicia wasn't being entirely sincere. Although since Alicia had been hoping to get the same position, that wasn't surprising.

"It went well," Sally said, shortly. "So far, everyone seems very willing to talk about things and listen to each other."

"Well, it wouldn't matter to you if they didn't, would it?" Alicia said, smiling.

"There's only so much I can do if people want to be intentionally obstructive," Sally said, not smiling back.

"You must have had an awful lot to talk about," Mary-Lou said, hastily. "There's so much to consider now they know people like us exist."

Sally nodded. "It was mostly about the compulsory disclosure of powers, though."

"They're still trotting that one out?" Alicia said. "I hope you gave them short shrift."

"Actually," Sally said, directing her words to her plate, "I thought they made some very useful points."

"Excuse me?" Alicia was smiling again, but as if she had to laugh at someone being so stupid. "You aren't saying you think it's all right for people to have to declare what powers they hold, are you?"

"I'm saying – and I said – that if people have abilities which give them a significant advantage over others -" Sally's voice was tightening a little. Darrell felt sorry for her – Alicia wasn't an enjoyable person to argue with at the best of times - "then those others should perhaps be aware of that. For instance, I think you should know when you're around me that I can pick up on your thoughts unless I make a strong effort not to. Not to mention more information might have avoided what happened last year with Gwendoline."

Alicia shrugged, ate another mouthful of stew. The thunder crashed again. Ellen glanced warily from one to the other of them.

"If you say so," Alicia said at last. "Personally, I think you're coming at it from an unnecessarily personal angle, but... _you're_ the representative, after all -"

It was just the kind of casual attack that Darrell knew Sally hated, but just at that moment they heard the front door unlocking and Irene was hurrying in, making the lights flicker and sending the shoe-rack toppling down the hall. "Golly, it's absolutely awful weather out there! Alicia, Darrell, Mary-Lou, I picked up a couple of strays up at the halls -"

"Irene!" Mary-Lou protested, laughing. "I'm sure they're not strays!"

"Oh, I'm sure I give that impression," one of the girls who'd followed Irene into the house said. Her short dark hair was damp, and raindrops mingled with freckles on her face. "Sorry I'm dripping everywhere – I did have an umbrella, but... well..."

"Belinda has a rather handy knack of bringing things to life through drawing," Irene said. "Unfortunately -"

"Oh, yes – Irene told me!" Alicia got to her feet, eyes glinting with the usual fascination she showed whenever someone with a new and interesting power presented themselves. "Anything you draw comes to life, but then it vanishes after half an hour, yes?"

"That's right," Belinda said. "So I drew the umbrella before I left, but I couldn't find my front door key, and I considered drawing a copy but I suspected it might not fit the lock, and then by the time I found it, I'd lost ten minutes, so the umbrella popped out of existence at the top of your street rather than at your front door."

"I'm not sure you and Irene should be rooming together," Alicia said. "I can't help feeling you'll create a perfect storm of chaos and no doubt risk destroying the world. Perhaps your disclosure idea has something in it after all, Sally – but won't you introduce me to your other stray?"

The other girl was equally wet, but her hair, streaming water down her face, was long and blonde, and she extended a hand to Alicia as if she were wearing a fur coat and at a party. "It's _lovely_ to meet you – Irene's told me so much about you. I'm Daphne Millicent Turner, and I'm so sorry to be so dishevelled! I have an absolutely beautiful umbrella I got from Liberty's, but I left it at home, so Belinda let me share hers... until..."

"Daphne's telekinetic as well," Irene said. "So I said I'd introduce her to Ellen -" She glanced quickly between the two of them, probably thinking, as Darrell was, that they were hardly obvious friends. But Mary-Lou was already hurrying forwards: "I'll get some towels! Oh, and some tea – and I'm sure there's enough stew if you – and Belinda, of course – if you'd like to join us -" She was blushing a little, and Darrell saw Sally glance at her, smile slightly. Again, though, you didn't need to be a telepath to spot shyness. Still, at least it meant the argument seemed to have been forgotten.


	6. Chapter 6

Sally couldn't remember the last time she was quite this angry. It being completely justified anger didn't make it any better. Not least because displays of high emotion only gave Alicia more to make fun of.

"For goodness sake," she was saying now, arms folded, half-smile on her face as she leant against the dining room table, "Nobody was hurt, and really, I'm not sorry – if they're going to debate such stupid ideas then they deserve everything they get -" And under that, her thoughts: [it's ridiculous] [gets so worked up] [I'd be much better as representative, everyone knows it] [studying these phenomena for years]

"You tricked me," Belinda said, voice slightly muffled because she had her head rested in her hands. "Sally, I promise, I never would have done it if I'd have realised -"

Sally believed her – her thoughts were echoing almost exactly what she was saying. No, she knew very well whose idea this was.

"What's happened?" Darrell hurried into the room. "Was the meeting really horrible, Sally?" She glanced from Sally to Alicia to Belinda. [hope Sally's all right] [wanted her to be all right] [what if they laughed at her?]

"You could say that." Sally found her throat tightening with fury as she remembered (and perhaps she was angry, too, that Darrell had thought she might look stupid). "Alicia was working with Belinda to explore her powers. You remember, they were wondering what might happen if Belinda drew a picture of a real person? Whether it would make a copy or something?"

Darrell nodded uncertainly. "Does it?"

"No," Sally said, and she was trying to keep her voice level but she could hear it becoming choked. Alicia was smiling: [so serious!] [she doesn't understand, that disclosure argument was dangerous] [she can't even keep a cool head] "No, it allows you to control the person's actions. Alicia suggested Belinda draw Councillor Rougier and Councillor Dupont having a fight: throwing papers at each other, pulling each other's hair. She said the two had been willing to act as test subjects."

"I can't believe I actually thought that was true," Belinda said, turning to glare at Alicia.

"It was funny," Alicia said, glancing away.

"No, it_ wasn't_!" Sally heard her voice rise. "They called the police in, Alicia! Forget people with powers having to disclose them – at this rate they'll drum us _out_ of town!"

Alicia shrugged: "Oh, don't be so melodramatic -" but her thoughts whispered, [good] [they should be a little more scared of us] [being taken for granted]

Darrell came across to Sally, put an arm around her. "No one will think it was your fault, Sally." She was warm and her thoughts were a comforting barrage of [Alicia's an idiot] [poor Sally] [how dare she?] but Sally couldn't stop thinking of everyone's stares and whispers and her own stuttering attempts to justify what had just happened. Thank goodness people couldn't read _her_ thoughts.

Running footsteps. The front door was wrenched open and Mary-Lou stood there, gasping for breath, hair dishevelled, coatless. "Darrell – Alicia – Sally – quickly, put the television on, the news -"

"If it's about the council meeting -" Belinda started, but Sally was getting flickers of panic from Mary-Lou that told her it was about much more than that. She dashed over to the set. The little screen glowed into life, a sombre reporter standing in front of the university gates.

"... scene at the council chambers today was initially presumed to be a malicious prank," he was saying, "but police are now wondering if it was intended to act as a diversion while the attack on the university occurred. Witnesses are unable to give accounts of what they saw, but the fire has damaged most of the offices and research laboratories in the west building, and several people have suffered injuries in fleeing the scene."

Alicia had gone pale.

"That..." She swallowed. "Someone must have known what..." [Belinda and I were talking here] [Sally] [Darrell] [Mary-Lou]

"Someone in this house overheard?" Darrell said. "But... who'd do something like this?"

"Not you or Mary-Lou," Alicia said. A quick glance, and then: "And not Sally, either." [Too good] [Not going to disgrace herself like that just to get to me!] And then an odd little mental twitch of [Surely not -] before she turned to look at Sally and both thought and spoke, "Ellen or Daphne."

"Not Daphne," Darrell said. "I saw her go out this morning and she hasn't been back since. Ellen... Ellen's been in her room..."

Alicia was already marching towards the door. Sally hurried after her: "Alicia, don't – you can't just storm in and accuse someone like that -"

"Please don't tell me what I can and can't do," Alicia said, very, very lightly. "You may be a council representative but you're not the mayor." She started up the stairs. "And, if you don't mind, I'm a little annoyed that large portions of my research notes appear to have gone up in smoke. I'd quite like to get to the bottom of this -" She reached the landing, strode over to Ellen's bedroom door, knocked loudly on it and flung it open. By the time Sally got there, she'd already started, "Hello, Ellen – is there anything you'd like to tell me about what you've been doing today?"

Ellen had been sitting at her desk; she got to her feet now, scowling. "What do you mean? Do you normally just burst into people's rooms like this?"

"I do when I discover someone used something _I_ was planning in order to set fire to my workplace," Alicia said. [Look at her, so jumpy] [she even looks guilty] [can't even hide it!] [that idiot Sally thinks -]

Ellen stared at her. "What are you talking about? I... I haven't..." [does she know?] [it can't be anything to do with -]

Sally stared at her. She wanted to believe the thoughts she'd just heard had been her own mind playing tricks on her, but no – ringing in her ears was not furious denial, or confusion, but nervousness. Guilt.

"Ellen," she said, "if you've got anything to do with what's happened, you should tell us."

"I haven't!" Ellen gasped. "I don't know what Alicia means! I haven't done anything!" [I said I wouldn't]

"If you're asking that," Alicia said, "then she must be guilty. You can hear her thoughts, can't you?"

Sally didn't want to admit that that was what she was doing – and if she didn't want to give Alicia the satisfaction of being right, then so what? No one was listening to _her_ thoughts – but Ellen had gone pale and, scrambling to her feet, snapped, "What I'm thinking is none of your business! I haven't done anything wrong -"

"Then why isn't Sally backing you up?" Alicia said. "Dear Sally is so _good._ If she thought you were innocent, she'd say something."

Sally opened her mouth to tell Alicia to be quiet, but the other girl cut across her: "Well? If she's got nothing to hide, you'd know, wouldn't you?"

"Stop it!" Darrell said fiercely. "Why on earth would Ellen want to hurt you, Alicia? She's been helping you! The only person I can think of who would want to do something like this is Gwendoline -"

As she said the name, Sally felt Ellen's thoughts jump, echoing it, and the image of blonde hair and a scowl popped up in her mind.

"You... you know her," she said, before she could think.

Ellen was pale, the shadows under her eyes standing out like fingerprints.

"How interesting," Alicia said. "Or are you denying this, too?"

Ellen's mouth was crumpling. She pressed her hand to it. [can't] [can't tell them] Sally frowned, trying to work out what it was the thoughts were saying, but the barrage of emotions and panic were making it too hard to hear -

"Well?" Alicia said to her. "What's she thinking?"

"_Stop it_!" Ellen screamed, and the framed picture on the desk hurled itself forward, flew over Sally's head and smashed against the doorframe. Mary-Lou cried out; Darrell shouted, "How dare you?" and her powers sent Ellen flying, sprawling across the floor, and above them the lightbulb burst, plunging the room into half-darkness. Ellen screamed – Sally couldn't tell if it was spoken or thought, it was just a long scream of _I hate you I hate you leave me alone_ - and the books on the desk and the little shelf were flung into the air, flying across the room, pages flapping – the curtains billowed out and then the window shattered, the glass glittering as it burst.

Sally found herself huddled on the floor, staring at the broken glass spattered across the carpet. Darrell was kneeling next to her: "Sally? Sally, are you all right?" Mary-Lou was crying as she and Belinda started to pick up the broken glass. Ellen was gone.

"We may as well not bother tidying this up tonight," Alicia said, coming back into the room with a candle. "I'll get another bulb and have that window fixed. Honestly, Darrell, you could have kept more of a grip on yourself."

"So could you," Darrell said, glowering up at her. "Sally _told_ you not to go confronting Ellen to her face like that."

Sally was too tired to agree. She rested her head on her knees and tried not to think about how bad a day it had been. Darrell stayed sitting with her, an arm round her shoulders, thoughts a soft whisper.

ooo

Daphne wished they hadn't had to meet in such a down-at-heel cafe. It smelt of egg and grease and wet hair, and the people in it were the sort that she liked to pretend she knew nothing about. Common, rough men grabbing breakfast before going to work factory shifts; shop girls smoking and leaving lipstick marks on coffee cups. _Not me,_ she told herself. _Not me._ Her powers would see to that. And this time, she wouldn't get caught.

Gwendoline, opposite her, was staring round with a sour expression on her face. "I can't stand places like this. I'm so sorry, Daphne. I thought I was going to be able to meet at – well, someone else's home, somewhere _nice_, but then I was told I had to make my own arrangements, and I couldn't risk Alicia or one of the others seeing you coming to _my_ rooms."

"That's _quite_ all right," Daphne said, and switched on the charm just a little, just to make her hair less damp and flat, her complexion a little brighter. "We're nearly finished, though, aren't we? I've told you everything that happened."

"And you're sure they don't suspect you?" Gwendoline took a large bite of the Bath bun she'd ordered, and said round it, "Alicia always thinks the worst of everyone."

"Please, Gwendoline, I've got the situation _entirely_ under control." Daphne smiled again to remember it. In the kitchen that morning, she'd let the power swell in her voice like syrup as she'd said to Darrell, _I went out half an hour ago, and I won't be in the house again until this evening._ To Alicia as the girl fumbled for candle and matches, _there's no one here except you_. To Mary-Lou, that night, _what cut on my face? There isn't anything -_

She bit her lip as she remembered that, and Gwen smirked: "It didn't stop you getting hit when everything started exploding, did it? How lucky that you can deflect awkward questions."

"I didn't even need to do that, once I remembered to hide it. Only Mary-Lou noticed..."

She perhaps hadn't intended to mention Mary-Lou. Gwendoline was already scowling: "I bet she was in hysterics after what happened. I'm surprised she had the time to notice anything."

"She was all right, actually. She made everyone some tea and volunteered to come out to the university with Alicia and help sift through what they've salvaged. Alicia told her not to bother, though. I think she was too angry to want help, though she's trying to pretend she doesn't mind too much about what happened..."

Gwen frowned at her for a second before shrugging and taking another bite of bun.

"Well," she said, "we'll put the next stage into operation soon. As soon as I have more information, I'll give you your orders."

"Orders? Surely it's only to keep letting you know what's happening at the house." Daphne reached for the slightly sticky sugar bowl, added another spoonful to her coffee in the hope that she could convince herself to actually drink it. She could hear her parents shaking their heads at her for wasting the money on something she wasn't even going to drink. Maybe she could make the cup look prettier – but _she_ would still be able to see that it was just chipped white china.

"For now," Gwen said, looking smug. "But I'll - _we'll_ - need you to do more than that, later."

"Oh."

"Are you scared?" Gwen said. "I mean... you've done an awful lot of other things. I suppose when you keep getting caught it must make you nervous -"

"Not at all," Daphne was beginning, but Gwen carried on, "Or are you feeling sorry for Mary-Lou? After all, I've heard a lot more than I wanted about how she's been cooking you meals or making you tea or lending you stockings and gloves and umbrellas..."

"Are you enjoying that bun?" Daphne said in her sweetest voice. "Only I would hate to make you think it had turned into something... not very nice."

Gwen swallowed her latest mouthful and scowled at Daphne.

"Just so you know," Daphne carried on, "I really don't give two hoots about Mary-Lou, any more than any of the others. I just don't want to run into... difficulties again. Now that there's more knowledge of people like us, convincing a jury to let a person off might be more difficult. They might take precautions."

"You won't get caught this time," Gwen said. "My _associate_ -"

"I'd love to meet this person," Daphne said. "I quite wonder whether she even exists, she sounds so intelligent -"

"My associate has worked everything out. _She_ recognises potential and good breeding when she sees it." Gwen preened a little. "She came to find me because she knew my skills would be invaluable. She wasn't even disappointed when that idiot Ellen wouldn't help us." A sigh. "I really thought she might. Her people are terribly poor, you know. I thought she'd do anything for money. She turned up again after she ran away from Alicia's, can you believe it? Of course I sent her packing. Her powers are miniscule – even that incident at the house was overreaching for her. Headaches, delirium, shaking all over. Whereas people like you and I – we can do what we want and it won't hurt us a bit."

Daphne smiled. Yes, that was true. "All right. Well, I'm sure you'll be in touch." She got to her feet before her companion could – she didn't like letting Gwen get too close to her. She had no intention of letting anyone bewitch _her._


	7. Chapter 7

"You're awfully late!" Darrell said, as Alicia opened the front door. "I was wondering if you'd got lost or something!"

"Even on a bicycle, I couldn't get through the traffic," Alicia said, pulling off her damp coat and hat. "I jolly well wish I had the power to fly sometimes, especially on a stormy night like this."

"It probably wouldn't be any warmer, though. Come and sit down, I'll put the kettle on."

Sally was sitting at the dining room table, reading through a yellow-paged report. She glanced up as Alicia walked in, gave a small smile. Alicia wanted to tell her to stop holding a grudge, but – not that she would ever admit it – she could see that Sally had reason to be angry with her. Of course Ellen had been out to cause trouble from the start, but she herself should have been more circumspect. Now Ellen had disappeared and they had no way of knowing what she'd been up to, how Gwendoline was involved, what the two might be plotting next -

A gust of wind rattled the windows. Alicia jumped, and then wanted to shake herself for being so twitchy. She was far too old to be scared of storms. Particularly as she could heal from any injury life – or anyone in it – chose to throw at her.

"It does sound horrible out there," Sally said. She glanced at Alicia, then down at her work again. "I'm glad you got home safely."

It was typical of Sally's over-controlled manner, but Alicia suspected it was an awkward attempt to make peace. Perhaps Sally was thinking about what had happened too – that they'd clearly had a traitor in their midst without even realising, that there was a whole lot more at stake than a silly council position. At any rate, Alicia made herself smile and say, "Well, if anyone is made for dodging cars in the rain, it's me. I wasn't sorry to get indoors, though." She looked round the shadowy room. "Where's Mary-Lou? Not hiding under the bed, I hope?"

Sally and Darrell glanced at each other; Darrell looked exasperated. "She went out earlier. Apparently Daphne is at the other end of town and forgot her purse. Mary-Lou went to bring her home, lend her the bus fare, take her an umbrella..."

"Which is fair enough," Sally said, "but I've noticed she's borrowing things off Mary-Lou a lot. I'm starting to wonder whether she's taking advantage of her a little."

"Goodness knows why she'd need to," Alicia said. "Her people are terribly well-off; she paid three months rent upfront. Perhaps she's one of those who just doesn't quite realise the value of money."

Darrell started to speak, but then they heard the front door open again, and a moment later, Daphne walked into the room, pushing her damp hair off her face. "Goodness, I'm so cold! I hate being outside on nights like this..."

She stopped as she saw Alicia, mouth hanging open a little. "Alicia! I didn't... I mean... I'm surprised you're home this early with the weather like that."

Alicia thought that looked a good deal more surprise than needed, but she'd long thought Daphne was the kind of person who liked to say things to appear oh-so-gracious. Perhaps it was a rather shabby example of that.

"Where's Mary-Lou?" Darrell said after a moment, when it became obvious that no one else had come inside. "Didn't she find you?"

Daphne frowned. "Find me? Was she looking for me?" She bit her lip. "I've been at the shops all day – I don't think she said she'd come and meet me..."

"You phoned here," Darrell said, turning round to face her. "A couple of hours ago, I think it was. You'd forgotten your purse? Mary-Lou went to find you."

Alicia could already feel small chills creeping down her back that something wasn't quite right, but Daphne went completely white, and actually clutched at the doorframe as if she was about to faint.

"Is that what I said?" she stammered. "That Mary-Lou needed to come and find me? Where did she think she had to go?"

"She didn't say," Darrell said, glancing nervously at Sally. "Right over on the other side of town – she said it would be too far for you to walk. I tried to convince her you could call a taxi, but she wouldn't listen -"

"The old church," Daphne interrupted. "On Clifftop Road. That's where, isn't it? Of _course_ - it was meant to be _you_," she said to Alicia, "but you weren't home -"

"What are you talking about -" Darrell began, but Daphne was already hurrying out into the hallway and a moment later they heard the whirr of a number being dialled and her voice, shaking: "A taxi, please, from North Tower House on Cornwall Street to Clifftop Road – it's _extremely urgent_ -"

"It's a trap," she sobbed, once they were crammed into the dark car. Alicia could feel her shaking. "Gwen said she needed my powers. I didn't want to risk giving them to her, but I didn't want to risk getting caught at the scene either, so I let her. It was supposed to be you, Alicia – she'd pretend to be someone else, lure you out, say she'd found someone with powers in need of help -"

"You've been working with Gwendoline from the start," Alicia heard herself say, an amused edge to her voice because she couldn't quite believe how much of a mistake she'd made.

"Yes," Daphne said, sniffing. "She said if we managed to get rid of you, there'd be no one to stop us doing whatever we wanted with our powers. I've done that anyway – oh, you won't want to even look at me when you find out everything – but if I tell you then maybe there'll be something you can use, maybe it won't be too late – Ellen had nothing to do with it, Gwen approached her too and she refused – she's worth ten of me -"

"What are your powers?" Darrell, in the front seat, was speaking very carefully, but even so Alicia could feel her rage humming in the air, and Sally was leaning forward to put a hand on her shoulder.

"I can make people believe what I want them to," Daphne said. "I can make them see what I want them to. I make people think I'm wearing pretty clothes, that I can afford expensive things. I make them like me. I made you think I'd gone out of the house on the day of Sally's meeting. I stopped you even considering me a suspect. I've, I've walked into shops and taken jewellery and no one knew I'd been inside. I'm no good and I know that but Mary-Lou was kind and – oh, even this, she went out in the storm to try and find me -"

"What's Gwen going to do?" Darrell said.

But Alicia could imagine: "Remember last year, when Mary-Lou confronted her and she nearly drained the life out of her? If she's got the power to make you see whatever she wants, Mary-Lou won't see the danger until it's too late."

The car radio buzzed and sunk into static: Darrell took a deep, shaky breath. "I should get out and just run," she said, voice shaking - "we'll be stuck in traffic all the way and I'm going to ruin the car at this rate -"

"No!" Alicia suddenly knew what to do. "You should get out and run to the university – look – Irene and Belinda's rooms are only a few streets over. Go to Belinda and tell her to _draw Gwendoline_. Draw her unable to move, or, or going to the police, or – something, anything – it'll give us another half-hour – stop the car, please -"

The taxi driver, muttering, did so, and Darrell sprang out, the splash of her feet echoing for a moment before she slammed the door and disappeared into the night.

"Sally," Alicia said, as the car moved on again, "I'm sure you've been doing this already, but is Daphne telling the truth?"

"I think so," Sally said. "If she can do – what she says, though, she can probably fool me, too. She could be tricking us both right now – I'm sure that's occurred to you, too?"

Daphne, crying still, shook her head. "I promise. I promise – not this time -"

"It doesn't matter," Alicia said. "I think Mary-Lou's in danger, and your information's the only lead we've got. I only hope we get there in time."

ooo

Mary-Lou felt as if she were walking back to herself through an empty, cold land. For hours and hours it seemed like there was nothing, and the only _her_ was far, far away, a tiny dot of firelight in the darkness.

_Mary-Lou? Mary-Lou, are you all right?_

She was so tired and so cold and – something bad had happened -

_Mary-Lou, please..._

That voice. Daphne's voice. _My friend..._

Something bad had happened. Yes. She'd got off the bus and - _I'm in the porch of the old church_, Daphne had said, _it's so cold and horrid out here..._ Only the porch had been empty, whitewashed walls faintly glowing in the moonlight, dead leaves blustering across the floor. The heavy door open. She'd stepped inside. The smell of mould and rotting books and papers, a broken stained-glass window high above her, and Daphne, standing in the aisle, the dim light sucking all the colour out of her hair and face.

_I knew you'd come_, she'd said, but it wasn't grateful, it was... mocking. As if Mary-Lou were stupid to have wanted to help.

_Of course I came! I couldn't leave you stranded._

_No,_ Daphne said, and her mouth curved into a smirk. _No, because you're my __**best friend**__, aren't you? You think I'm __**wonderful**__._

Lightning making the broken window blaze white for a second. Jagged glass shape behind her eyes.

_Tell me, _Daphne said, walking towards her,_ what would you do if I said I couldn't care less about a silly, boring little mouse like you? If I was only friends with you because you've been writing me cheques and taking my turns with the housework? After all, you can't really think you've got much you can offer me._

Cold and dark and the rain pattering on the tiled floor. It was like someone had thrown a stone at her and hit her so hard she was too shocked to feel it.

_I don't,_ she said_. I don't have anything to offer._ And she didn't understand why Daphne was saying this, what she'd done wrong, but she thought that if the other girl was frightened, somehow, or angry (because this was frightening) then she, Mary-Lou, could try and help. _You're still my friend. If... if you only like me because I help you, that's all right. I like helping people._ Daphne was only a few feet away from her. _We should go home. It's too cold in here. You'll get a chill._

Daphne smiled and reached out to her and took her hand.

And then it got _really _cold. For a moment Mary-Lou thought the storm must have suddenly grown worse, but then as the dreadful dizziness spread over her she remembered the last time she'd felt like this – talking to Gwendoline – telling her what she'd worked out – and Gwen had said:

_We've been thinking that if I try hard enough, I could take everything - not just powers, everything -_

She'd thought, _so Daphne can do it too, _and then, _I was stupid to trust her, _and then, _well, I don't care..._

_She's still my friend, and I... I have to..._

And someone was clutching her hand but this time they dragged her out of the cold and the emptiness and _there_ she was back in herself, gasping for breath, cold tiles under her back, and people crowding around her, faces lit up with torchlight.

"Mary-Lou," Daphne gasped, tears running down her face. She was golden in the light. "I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead..."

Someone was helping her sit up, wrapping a blanket round her. Everyone was talking, asking her if she was all right, if she could remember who she was. _Lucky she didn't get here earlier. Call an ambulance!_

"It was Gwendoline," Daphne said, and Sally was kneeling down next to her, taking her other hand: "It was, Mary-Lou, I promise. All those things she said, that was Gwen, not Daphne." _Of course_, Mary-Lou thought, _she can hear how sad I am..._

"What did she say?" Daphne said. "Oh – I think I know. Mary-Lou, I promise, it isn't true, any of it. You're my friend, do you understand?"

"I think she means it," Alicia said, from above them. "She confessed a lot of things to us that it would've been a lot more convenient for her to keep secret, all because of you. And the attack she hit Gwen with when she ran into the church – it was amazing, quite frankly."

"It was terrifying," Sally said, shivering. "I only caught part of it and I'm still not sure whether I'm in the real world."

Daphne shuddered, clutched Mary-Lou's hand more tightly.

"She fought back," she said, numbly. "She made me see things. I saw you and you were – you were dead. I thought..."

"But it didn't matter what you thought," Alicia said, "because that must have been when the tidal wave hit. Darrell -" She turned round to look at the other girl, who had just hurried up to them, "what happened to asking Belinda to target Gwendoline?"

"Belinda's never met Gwendoline," Darrell said, rubbing a hand across her face. "We tried her drawing a girl with blonde hair from my description, but Belinda said at the time she thought it hadn't worked, that she could feel it. We didn't know what else to do, so she drew the inside of the church and water pouring through it. We thought that might at least knock everyone off-balance."

"And you're all dry now," Belinda said from behind her. "Half an hour and it disappears, just as normal."

"Yes," Alicia said. "But it wasn't much fun before that. Were the octopuses really necessary? Not to mention Gwen got away in all the chaos."

"Some people are never satisfied," Belinda said, shaking her head. "We should get Mary-Lou out of this place, anyway, it's freezing. Get you a hospital bed next to Ellen – did you hear?" she said to the others. "Irene found out today – Ellen turned up at the hospital, half-out of her mind with exhaustion, but they think with rest she'll be fine."

"Thank goodness," Daphne said, smiling shakily. "And... listen, I know that... I know you won't... I'll go to the police, I'll turn myself in for what – for everything I did. I knew things were going too far and I let them anyway -"

Mary-Lou clutched at her hand, suddenly cold again.

"Don't," she said. "I don't want you to go."

"I would have let Alicia die," Daphne said. Her fingers were chilly. "And you don't know half of what I've done. I wouldn't trust me, if I were you."

"I'm not sure I _do_ trust you," Alicia said. "But your powers are fascinating. Not to mention extremely useful. I'd rather have you on my side than in jail, or out in the world and able to make contact with Gwendoline and... anyone else she might be working with."

"I agree," Sally said. "And goodness knows agreeing with Alicia isn't something I do much." She smiled, and Alicia smiled back.

"And I've made mistakes myself," Darrell said. "Used my powers in stupid ways. I can't argue against someone else getting a second chance."

"Exactly," Belinda said. "And there's five of us against one of you. If it came down to it, we could probably win!"

Daphne stared round at them all, her eyes brimming with more tears, before she buried her face in Mary-Lou's shoulder. Mary-Lou hugged her, and the last of the cold slipped away.


End file.
